Sweltering heat gets on people's nerves
Massive rally in Haridwar to protest against worsening power crisis
Haridwar, June 14
Despite announcement made by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna last month of making Haridwar a power cut-free city, daily a two-hour cut is being imposed.Members of the Rashtriya Krantikari Manch hold a protest rally in Haridwar on Thursday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur

Traffic Woes in Mussoorie
Hotel association members boycott meeting chaired by Doon DM
Mussoorie, June 14
District Magistrate (DM), Dehradun, Ravi Nath Raman took cognisance of repots of traffic woes in Mussoorie appearing in the columns of The Tribune.Dehradun DM Ravi Nath Raman with other officials in the review meeting of traffic in
Mussoorie.

Former CM Tiwari feels the pinch of power cuts
Dehradun, June 14
Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader ND
Tiwari, annoyed at long power cuts, reached the headquarters of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited
(UPCL) to lodge a complaint here today.

Minister assures fairness in cases of freedom fighters
Dehradun, June 14
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Jitendra Singh today disclosed that his ministry had taken a number of steps to ensure transparency and fairness in processing the cases of pension and other facilities for freedom fighters and their dependents.

Gang of Punjab-based women chain snatchers busted
Haridwar, June 14
Surprisingly, while the police is on the lookout for male chain snatchers who have carried out many a theft in the recent past, a case has been busted where all women gang members have been found to be involved in several chain-snatching incidents in
Haridwar.

53 new vehicles for ambulance services
Dehradun, June 14
The Health Minister, Surinder Singh Negi, today said that soon 53 new vehicles would be added to the existing fleet of vans that were rendering services under the National Rural Health Mission's Kushiyon ki Sawari
programme.

E-magazine 'Expressions' completes two years
Dehradun, June 14
I-care-India, a voluntary organization, celebrated its second successful
year of online publication ‘Expressions’, Uttarakhand’s first environmental e-magazine, here
today.

13.3 per cent elderly persons in Doon face abuse
Dehradun, June 14
At least 13.3 per cent elderly persons in Dehradun reportedly face abuse at the hands of their family members, and almost all the elderly who reported abuse lived with their family members.

Haridwar, June 14
Despite announcement made by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna last month of making Haridwar a power cut-free city, daily a two-hour cut is being imposed much to the woes of the residents and pilgrims.

While in most parts of the city cuts are being imposed from 1 pm to 3.30 pm in various colonies, intermittent cuts are also being reported, which have aggravated the woes of the people, already perturbed by simmering mercury temperatures.

In view of the power cuts, various protests are being organised in the city with SIDCUL-based industrial firms' delegation meeting power corporation executive engineer and apprising him of the impact on their production due to daily power cuts.

While local people under the aegis of Rashtriya Krantikari Manch took out a massive protest on two- wheelers, warning of intensifying agitation if in the coming days the power is not provided round the clock as per CM Bahuguna's announcement.

Former legislator Ambrish Kumar said that it was a matter of shame that despite the state head announcing power cut-free zone, the city is reeling under immense power crisis.

He said that the so-called label of Urja Pradesh has been exposed as was made out by former Bharatiya Janata Party government.

Low voltage crisis was reported by various representatives of Muslim-dominated Jwalapur colonies. They demanded rectification of this problem.

Irfan Ansari, a social activist, said that despite Haridwar now having 11 legislators and Jwalapur having a separate one, power crisis in this area is deepening day by day with no political representative elected by the people raising this issue.

Residents of various colonies too registered their protest and complaints at the EE office, with assurances being made by Executive Engineer Rakesh Kumar.

The BJP youth wing staged a protest at Jagjitpur, where wing chief Naresh Sharma threatened to lock all the power corporation offices in the district if power supply was not made available as per CM Vijay Bahuguna's announcements.

Dehradun: The public is quite unhappy with the unscheduled long power cuts in the town. According to officials of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), power was snapped only for one hour in the city on Wednesday, whereas in reality, the power kept dodging people for at least four to five hours in the day and two to three hours at night in various parts of the city.
The officials blame poor maintenance

or faults in transformers or electrical wires due to overloading for such power breakdowns, which they claim is not rostering. It is really difficult to get to the bottom of this mystery.

MLA, Rajpur Road, Rajkumar, who recently met UPCL officials with a delegation of the public, said the UPCL must inform the public about the power cut schedule a day in advance through the media so that it could be well prepared for it and did not feel cheated by the sudden power shutdown.

The higher-ups in UPCL, however, express their inability in doing so. They say that the estimate of daily power purchase in the wake of power shortage has to be placed by the afternoon to the energy exchange in order to meet the power demand for the next day. The bidding starts by evening and

by late evening, around 7 at night, the result comes out as to how much they were able to get at the price quoted by them. They say it becomes difficult for them to get the entire assessment done and get it published or aired in the media by then. This assertion did not hold much ground as the local dailies are published till 2 am at night and local news channels, too, air news till late at night.

The other fear is that the system can be extended. But what would happen if there appeared faults in any of the hydropower generation units the next day. This may arouse anger in the public. Countering this opinion, sources say that rostering always is done on emergency basis and as per schedule as well. So in case of any snag in the hydropower station or other reason, emergency services can applied, which will certainly not be a regular feature and can be taken well by public.

The power cut status seemed improved on Wednesday, especially with regard to the industries because as per official figures, power was cut only for 4 hours to industries of Garhwal region and about 7 hours in the Kumaon region. However, industrialists have their own version to defy the data. Gautam Kapoor, owner of Ramson Polymers Pvt Ltd at Bhagwanpur, said the power was not available from 6 in evening to 2 at night and it again snapped at 12 in the afternoon and was resumed at 6 in the evening, which makes it a breakdown for 14 hours on Wednesday.

The availability improved following higher hydro generation to the tune of 17.4 million unit (MUs) on Wednesday and increase in the Centre's share from 10.4 MU to 11.2 MU. But the demand too escalated from 34 to 35.2
MUs. This way, there was shortage of 6.4 MUs. The official figures on Wednesday had been like this - 7.15 hours in rural Haridwar as well as in rural Udhamsingh Nagar; 6.5 hours in small towns; 4.45 hours in Garhwal and Kumaon hills.

Mussoorie, June 14
District Magistrate (DM), Dehradun, Ravi Nath Raman took cognisance of repots of traffic woes in Mussoorie appearing in the columns of The Tribune at a meeting on the Municipal Council (MC) premises here today.

However, members of the Mussoorie Hotel Association boycotted the meeting, terming it as ill-timed and insignificant as their businesses had already suffered losses due to a fall in the tourist flow to the town this season because of traffic blues.

President of the Mussoorie Hotel Association RN Mathur said despite several meetings in the past no permanent solution had been found to the traffic problem. Therefore, they decided to boycott the meeting today. The members after venting ire at the administration left the meeting despite requests from the MC officials.

The DM said he was in the town to hear views on how to improve the traffic situation so that tourists did not face problems during their stay here. Therefore, boycott of the meeting by the members of the Mussoorie Hotel Association was unwarranted.

DIG, Garhwal, Sanjay Gunjyal said the department was not sitting idle and was serious about improving the traffic condition in the town. The police had worked out an action plan to sort out the problem.

Gunjyal added the department had collected data of the days when the traffic inflow was heavy, especially during important events like annual functions and sports day in schools. The police planned to divert traffic in such a way that the traffic flow remained smooth the whole day. It would also identify no parking zones at Thapar Terrace, near Gandhi Chowk, and Picture Palace and enforce the restrictions strictly.

The DIG said the police would also enforce the one-way traffic rule on various routes in the town and ensure adequate arrangements for vehicles heading for Yamnotri and the Jaunpur region from Mussoorie. He added the department would also make arrangements for controlling traffic flow towards Kempty Falls. A meeting on the issue with travel operators from Haridwar would be held soon.

He said the police was also planning to limit traffic movement from Kempty Falls by allowing only 30 to 40 vehicles at one time.

Gunjyal said to control traffic on Mall Road the ban on vehicle movement after the stipulated time would be imposed strictly. He informed the participants that the police in association with the Municipal Council would install CCTV cameras at the entry and exit points of the town to curb criminal activities.

Councillors Jasvir Kaur and Virendar Rawat raised the issue of a callous approach adopted by the police manning important crossroads in the town. Besides the traffic problem, the councillors also took up other issues of the town such as the construction of new parking facilities, the use of eco tax judiciously and rampant encroachment on Mall Road.

Several public representatives questioned the absence of the Patwari from the meeting. The issue of fleecing of tourists by hoteliers and guesthouses running illegally in the town also figured at the meeting.

The DM assured the representatives of various organisations that the administration was concerned about their problems. He said the Municipal Council should consider raising toll charges at both barriers of Mall Road so that it acted as a deterrent to vehicles from entering the area. He ordered an investigation into the issue of illegal running of guesthouses in the town and also sought an explanation from the Municipal Council on the use of funds collected in form of eco tax.

The DM solicited cooperation from all sections of society in managing traffic in the town. MC president OP Uniyal stressed on complete coordination among all departments to ensure a smooth traffic flow and finding solutions to other problems of the town.

Dehradun, June 14
Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari, annoyed at long power cuts, reached the headquarters of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) to lodge a complaint here today.

He met senior officials of the corporation, including Managing Director AK Johri, and expressed his displeasure at long power cuts in the entire state. He said there had been no electricity at his residence since morning and the situation was alarming.

He was briefed by senior officials about power availability from the hydroelectric projects in the state and the electricity being purchased by Uttarakhand from outside. Tiwari then talked to the Union Power Secretary on the phone and requested him to give extra power to Uttarakhand from the central pool. The Union Power Secretary told him that the request should come from the state government and the Central government would consider the demand sympathetically.

Later after more than two hours Tiwari went to the office of Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited, the corporation responsible for power generation from state-owned hydroelectric projects.

Dehradun, June 14
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Jitendra Singh today disclosed that his ministry had taken a number of steps to ensure transparency and fairness in processing the cases of pension and other facilities for freedom fighters and their dependents.

Presiding over the first national-level meeting of reconstituted “Eminent Freedom Fighters' Committee” in Dehradun today, he said although data with regard to existing freedom fighters and their dependants receiving pension through public sector banks had been uploaded on the website of the ministry, information of data-linked freedom fighters and eligible dependents, who are getting pensions from the state treasury, is also being obtained. “After receipt of data, it would be brought to public domain through the website," he said.

Uttarakhand Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Pritam Singh suggested a uniform national policy for facilities to the freedom fighters to ensure equitable treatment to those who made sacrifice for freedom of the nation.

During the meeting a number of issues concerning the pension and welfare measures of freedom fighters were discussed. A followup action was agreed upon for setting up of a committee of eminent freedom fighters at state level, complimentary passes to freedom fighters for travel in Duranto, Garib Rath trains and metro trains, inclusion of widow and divorced daughters, up to maximum three, as eligible dependents for family pension and merger of a part of dearness relief with basic samman pension. A demand came to the fore for extension of Central Government Health Services (CGHS) facilities to freedom fighters up to the district level. The other issues of the agenda were reservation in the educational institutions and for employment for successors of the freedom fighters and chairs to be established for research-oriented work on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Babu Jay Prakash Narayan, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, S.D. Sawarkar, Keshavrao Hedgewar and Pandurang
Khankhoje.

Haridwar, June 14
Surprisingly, while the police is on the lookout for male chain snatchers who have carried out many a theft in the recent past, a case has been busted where all women gang members have been found to be involved in several chain-snatching incidents in Haridwar.

This has come as a major surprise as all the seven members of this gang are residents of Punjab state and used to target pilgrims by engaging them in religious-spiritual talks. Hailing from Sangrur, Punjab, these women had formed a gang and used to roam in and around Har-ki-Pauri ghats, targeting simple devotees.

Few members of this gang used to divert the attention of pilgrims by deliberately talking to them on religious-spiritual topics, while other members used to secretly take away their belongings.

In many cases these female gang members used force while carrying out thefts and than ran away in congested lanes of the city. Other members of the gang, in disguise, used to divert the attention of the people, giving them wrong directions and hideouts of the running gangsters.

Such was the fear of these women chain snatchers from Punjab that in the past few weeks the police had carried out an alert in the mela area with special vigil and patrolling
being done to put brakes on numerous thefts of chain, bag and purse snatching and stealing of other belongings of the
pilgrims in the region.

Today this women’s gang got busted as the police arrested one member of the gang who had snatched a chain from Shivalik Nagar Colony resident Hemlata Olly, who had come with family to take a bath at Har-ki-Pauri. As soon as Hemlata realised her chain being snatched, she made a loud noise, urging people to help.

As there was a large presence of devotees, the snatcher got rounded up. She handed over the
chain to her accomplice, who also got nabbed but tried to pass the chain to another member.

In this process all the seven chain snatchers came to help each other and were nabbed by the police, with help from CCTV footages coming handy.

Sub Inspector Mahavir Rawat said that these female gang members were quite active in Har-ki-Pauri, and they have accepted their hand in many similar thefts.

In all the thefts
their modus operandi was the same, which helped the police in arresting them.

Dehradun, June 14
The Health Minister, Surinder Singh Negi, today said that soon 53 new vehicles would be added to the existing fleet of vans that were rendering services under the National Rural Health Mission's Kushiyon ki Sawari programme.

Speaking on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the 108 ambulance services that also runs the vans under Kushiyon ki Sawari progaramme, the minister said:" Over the years, the 108 ambulance services had won the confidence of the people by providing emergency help to distressed men, women and children in the state and the able implementation of Kushiyon ki Sawari programme was another feather in it's cap. He said a total of 70 new shelters would be built to house the new vans," he said.

During the course of four years, the emergency service had managed to provide emergency help in 4 lakh emergency cases.

Releasing the atlas, Uttarakhand Minister of Science and Technology Surendra Singh Negi said Wetland Atlas had come out as an important document that could go a long way in tacking the water problems of the state.

He disclosed that he was very hopeful of full support from Centre towards conservation of wetlands and also overcoming water crisis in Uttarakhand.

Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO) founder Anil Joshi said nature has always been worshipped by mankind since ages. He said climate change today has affected forest and water the most. He said water crisis today has become a major issue and water linked dispute has now turned from village-level challenge to a global challenge.

Anil Joshi reminded that science and tradition need to be amalgamated to get desirous results. "Even science alone can't help us much in case of conservation of forests, and water and traditions that once ensured conservation of water need to be understood," he pointed out.

Dehradun Meteorological Centre's Executive Director Anand Sharma said by coming up with a Wetland Atlas, Uttarakhand Space Application Centre has set up a benchmark and come up with a much needed baseline data on wetlands in Uttarakhand. Referring to level of corruption in the country, Dr Sharma reminded that a total of 14 major rivers of the country today stand polluted.

Earlier, USAC director MM Kimothi referred to the efforts undertaken by USAC towards coming up with Wetland Atlas for the state. State Application Centre, Ahmedabad, scientist JG Patel and India Water Foundation president Arvind Kumar also spoke on the occasion.

Dehradun, June 14
At least 13.3 per cent elderly persons in Dehradun reportedly face abuse at the hands of their family members, and almost all the elderly who reported abuse lived with their family members.

Bhopal (MP) ranked the highest with 77. 12 per cent elderly persons stating they faced abuse, followed closely by Guwahati (Assam) with 60.55 per cent.

In a report released today by HelpAge India on the eve of World Elderly Day, the abuse reported by the elderly persons came from the trusted sources, with the primary abuser being the son, followed by the daughter-in-law .

At least 77 per cent of the respondents lived with the family, 17 per cent lived with spouse only and 4 per cent lived alone. At total of 67 per cent owned the house in which they lived and 17 per cent were co-owners and 16 per cent lived in rented houses. The report said more elderly women as compared to men faced abuse.

Dehradun, June 14
Anganwadi activists staged a protest in front of the District Magistrate’s office yesterday.

They are demanding
that the authorities concerned should also declare summer vacations for children enrolled with anganwaris. Janki Chauhan, general secretary of the anganwari activists’ body, said in
the scorching heat, children could fall ill.